How the calculation works
For each day the tool converts your clock-in and clock-out times to minutes, subtracts the break you entered, and divides by 60 to get hours. It sums all seven days for the weekly total. If a clock-out time is earlier than the clock-in — an overnight or graveyard shift — it assumes the shift crosses midnight and adds 24 hours, so a 10 p.m. start and 6 a.m. finish correctly reads as eight hours rather than a negative number.
Decimal hours versus hours and minutes
Payroll systems almost always use decimal hours: 8 hours 30 minutes is 8.5, and 8 hours 15 minutes is 8.25. People, on the other hand, think in hours and minutes. The calculator shows both so you can copy the decimal straight into a timesheet or pay calculation while still seeing the familiar hours-and-minutes figure. To convert manually, divide the minutes by 60 — 20 minutes is 0.33 of an hour.
Handling breaks correctly
Unpaid breaks are entered in minutes and subtracted from that day's total, which matters because a 30-minute lunch across a five-day week is 2.5 unpaid hours. If your breaks are paid, set the break field to zero. Getting breaks right is the most common source of timesheet disputes, so enter them exactly as your employer records them.
A worked example
Clock in at 9:00 and out at 17:00 with a 30-minute break, five days a week: each day is 7.5 hours and the week totals 37.5 hours, shown as 37 hours 30 minutes. Add a Saturday shift from 10:00 to 14:00 with no break and the week becomes 41.5 hours. If any single day exceeds a full-time threshold, you can see at a glance where overtime may begin, though this tool totals raw hours rather than applying overtime rules.
Tips for accurate timesheets
Enter times in 24-hour form to avoid AM/PM mistakes, double-check overnight shifts, and keep break minutes consistent with how your workplace records them. Because nothing is saved, note your weekly total elsewhere before closing the page. For self-employed work, pairing this with a mileage log helps you capture both billable time and deductible travel.